Incident’s Do Happen
by Kimra
Summary: She was only going to the bank, but then things are never that simple when it all comes down to it.
1. One

Why does she keep starting them? You may ask this... but don't expect an answer. I have a tendency to start a hundred storys, and I will slowly finish them all. This one's a short story, and it was writing in response to a challenge.

**Incident's Do Happen**

by Kimra

She didn't move, didn't dare.

Her breathing had become harsh, strained. Small beads of sweat had formed in her palms, the temptation to rub them against her pants nearly overwhelming, but her body remained frozen.

Cold metal pressed against her head and even the breathing stopped.

"Do what I say and the little girl lives." The scratchy voice behind her shouted against her ear. Somewhere between holding her breath and realizing she had to breath a small sob escaped her. The metal pressed in harder, her body went to stumble forwards but the arm around her waist holding her against his front refused to budge. She bit back on the next sob, held the tears out of her eyes and tried once more to remain still.

"You listening?" There was a slur to his voice; a thick quality that suggested liquor had been consumed.

Someone began to move and her eyes shot open to see who. The thunder of her heart told her things where going to get worse. But the man moving did only as he was told, his motions slow, the grating of draws as he open them stretching her nerves to their limits.

If felt like forever, as the banker obeyed the gun wielders commands, forever as secrets came closer to being discovered. She closed her eyes against the time, focusing on the man behind her, the gun at her head. The threat was real, it could kill her. The hand about her waist fiddled idly with the skin below her shirt hem, repulsion settled into her gut.

"Good." Her captor grunted. "Now give the girl the bag."

Those words she understood so too did the crowd, but no one objected. She opened her eyes again when material brushed her hand, looking down to the man before her who held the bag out to her with trembling limbs. She smiled at him, her smile wavering with her own doubt.

"Take it girl." The voice by her ear growled and obediently she clasped at the bag, the banker slowly returning to the rest of the crowd. "Now we're going to slowly back out of here, and if I hear so much as a sneeze I'll blow her head off...got me?"

His body moved back, pulled her back with him. She stumbled and righted herself knowing this was not the time to klutz out. He tightened his grip around her waist, pulling her hard against his body.

He lent in close to her ear, a sick sense of invasion swamping her with his presence. "You and I, are going to have some fun." He murmured his voice low and intentions easy to understand.

"No!" Movement broke the sense of tension in the room as Rei jumped from the ground, ready to defend.

Usagi heard the click of the gun, readying to fire. She moved with instincts honed by those few who spent their every day fighting for their lives. The bag dropped from her hold; her body twisted and ducked, she grasped his hand and redirected the gun by snapping his wrist back.

He gave a cry of start; the gun shot into the roof; she increased the pressure. The gun fell from his hold, into her's and she spun, bringing the hilt against his forehead with maxim force. She took a breath as he fell to the ground; the gun already directed to his head should the force used be too little. She was accustomed to enemies that fell harder that took more energy to overcome. And as the human slumped to the ground, a line to blood seeping from the already formed bruise on his skull she wondered if it had been too much force.

"Shit!"

Usagi stepped back as Ami rushed to the man's side. Pulling her computer from her subspace pocket to check the damage her leader had inflicted. Usagi stepped back again, the gun still clasped in her hold. Water began to build in her eyes.

"Oh gods, I thought he was going to take her, I didn't think. I'm sorry." Rei whispered frozen in place. "I'm sorry." Her voice was breaking. Usagi couldn't respond her eyes fixed on the bleeding man. Ami had stopped typing, the computer was gone, and her large eyes stared at the wound inflicted.

"His going to be okay." Makoto stated, her voice harsh. "His going to be okay. Right Blue? His going to be fine!" She was making demands on the impossible. But she'd answered her own question when shed spoken in code.

"Girls. It's time to get out of here!" Mina snapped in a command that made them all look from their dilemma's. "You!" Mina pointed at the banker who had braved the enemy. "Call an ambulance." The man scuttled to obey. "Pink?"

Usagi met her friend's eyes briefly and looked back to the body. Siren's sounded at the edge of her hearing. She took a breath, ordering control into her body and mind.

Then she clicked into action. Sharply she raised the gun, shooting out the cameras visible. The few crowd members who had begun to rise to view the drama fell back to the ground, covering their heads.

"You three!" She pointed to Rei, Mina and Makoto. "Out the front, take it slow, do what you have to. Blue, find the camera's I missed." At her commands the four girls moved into action, her unspoken commands holding more sway then the ones voiced. The computer fell back into Ami's hand, numbers punched at franticly and she pointed out three cameras' Usagi had been unaware of. Usagi shot them out swiftly her aim impeccable. "Find me security." Her voice was low, and she saw her friend's eyes widen.

"But-"

"Now!" It was a command like she had never given; an order against the better judgment of her peers, but it was an order she had to follow through. No human moved as she had, she knew as they all did that the simple disarming of one man had signaled her out as something not quite mortal.

Ami typed only for a minute before shouting out. "This way."

And the two girls made for the stairs, Usagi following her friends every move as they wormed themselves deep into the structure. Out of eyesight they did the logical thing, calling form transformations that would grant them more protection and power then their human forms held. They used that power to swiftly break their way into the banks security system.

The sirens became louder. The sense of doom stuck deeper. The beeping of their communicators and Usagi jumped to answer it, letting the blue haired genius tamper with the security tapes in whatever fashion she deemed necessary.

"Moon here." Usagi snapped.

"Police just entered the building, so did the paramedics." Mina reported in a whisper. Usagi knew her friends had not ventured far, but it had been necessary to remove as many as possible as quickly as possible.

"The people?"

"It doesn't look like their leaving yet. Have to go." Was hissed and the communication was terminated. Usagi closed the communicator and looked to Ami who was frowning down at her computer.

"How long?" Her gut told her they didn't have enough time, that it was probably useless anyway because surely someone in the crowd had seen them clearly enough to describe them. And perhaps, far worse, someone in the crowd had recognized them.

"Longer then we have." Ami replied quickly. Her eyes where unwaveringly focused before her, her fingers drifting from one computer to the other as she worked her own type of magic.

"I'll buy time, you get out of here when it's done." Without another word Usagi followed the path they had traveled, already able to hear the police approaching. She wondered as she breached the distance between herself and them if meeting them as Sailor Moon was advisable, but with the only option being Usagi she knew which it had to be.

She walked into someone. Her surprise brought the gun up between herself and the unheard stranger, as her eyes following only to find he was no stranger at all.

"Tuxedo Kamen." She wondered what he was doing there, if he had been in the bank and seen it all, or if he had come to the scene as he always did when she was in danger.

"Perhaps you should put that away." He suggested mildly, eyes on the gun she held. She marveled the control in his voice even as she slipped the gun into her subspace pocket, aware that his instructions where advisable. What she would do with the gun would have to be thought on later, but right now it had her fingerprints all over it… one of the benefits of the Sailor Suits she rarely considered, gloves.

Aware of him now she moved past him, there was no chance for frivolous conversations or flirtations this time. He followed her closely, a strange action considering his covert tendencies.

"What are we doing?" His voice just as mild as before was softer, perhaps in response to the ever approaching foot falls that sounded through the thick corridors.

"Buying time." She responded with an equal softness. He didn't question her, and it made her wonder again when his presence had arrived at the bank. She tried to remember who had been inside the bank, curious if one of them where him though it seemed doubtful.

"Are you going to throw your tiara at them?"

"Of course not." She snapped a bit annoyed that her mind had stopped to think about him instead of considering what she would do with the police who approached, for police she was certain they where.

"Then might I recommend something?" He pulled her to a stop, the contact of his arm on her bare skin far more pleasant then the robbers touch had been. She went to glare at him, realized the frivolity of the action and instead glanced where he pointed. He pointed no less then directly up the corridor they where walking. Frivolity be damned he was wasting her time and she was going to glare. "Ricochet your tiara up the corridor."

"What?" It sounded like a plan and she was annoyed she couldn't decipher the reason.

"Do you have time to think of a better plan?" He was annoying when he took that kind of tone, not that he ever had before but she was still willing to hold it against him.

Wanting to retort that it didn't sound like he had a plan she bit her tongue and instead concentrated on the task allocated her. Her hand went to her tiara as she filled it with enough power to destroy a Youma. Then following his command she threw it, aiming for the wall and willing it to ricochet. At her command the tiara did as it was bid, biting into the wall's as it went, sending flecks of concrete and dust through the air. The sound of people grew closer. Then the foreboding sound of cracking filled the air. Her tiara returned safely and she slipped it into place listening intently for that cracking noise.

"Let's move." He hissed at her, his grip suddenly on her arm and biting with it's intensity. Something snapped, the groaning sound of something straining, and as the dust settled she saw the thick cracks that lined the wall above each tiara mark.

She realized what was happen as he pulled her away, but the walls tumbled faster then he moved and even as she went to assist in the escape the roof began to fall above them.

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To anyone out there listening. I'm a highly unorganised person, and therefore I've set up two mailing list's. One for my Original works and one for my Sailor Moon Fan Fiction.

To sign up for either of them:  


Go to

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**Oh yeah, and if you liked this story please review it.**


	2. Two

**Incident's Do Happen**

by Kimra

Part 2

Usagi watched the tuxedo clad male as he started to move, clouds of dust and concrete puffing from his body and entering the air around her. She barely acknowledged it, ten minutes of almost asphyxiating on the airborne particles had given her time to faze out the feeling, her mind registering the gritty feeling in her lungs as yet another perk of being Sailor Moon.

Thinking of her alternate identity Usagi looked to her gloved hands and found that the palms of each had been grazed open as too had her flesh. She repressed the shudder, scolding herself that really she should be used to seeing blood by now.

An image of a bloody man filled her memory's and her body jerked with the sudden queasy feelings that settled in.

Only briefly was she distracted as her companion groaned but it was enough to return her thoughts to the trivial things they should have been occupied by. Her skirt was torn, probably indecently so, in other circumstances she would have been embarrassed, right now she was in too much shock to do more then acknowledge it.

Coughing filled the air and the layer of thick rubble that had settled over Tuxedo Kamen's body shifted and slid from him as he pulled himself to his knees.

"Careful." She warned as he straightened and struck his head on one of the larger concrete slabs that had become the makeshift roof. He grimaced and sent her a dirty look that seemed far too childish to belong to her hero and was gone before she could be certain of having seen it.

"Did you drop a building on me?" He asked in a tight voice, not the deep resonating sound of a man she swooned after.

She thought about the words, about the tones and a devious grin split her features. "Not quite, but I did try so very hard." Her voice was Usagi mock innocent, something rarely used in her sailor form but something in his tone brought forth the school girl not the heroine.

"Well next time do it properly or leave me alone." His tone was biting and she defended quickly.

"Next time don't hand out lame brained idea's that you've come up with on the spare of the moment." She was chafed that he had been so harsh, after all she had done for him. She had pulled him into this nice little room before the roof of the corridor had met the floor and he had been knocked down right after the corridor crumbled into the doorway. But for all he knew she could have done wonderful feats of bravery while he wasn't looking.

"Well next time don't be a moron and run from a crime scene."

"Oh well I'm so sorry if I like my anonymity."

"Oh don't be an idiot, one in ten of those people might have known, and I stress 'might', that what you did would not only require a level of flexibility equal to that of an Olympic gymnast but the strength of a man eight times your size." Well that explained how much he had seen. She squinted at him in displeasure, so the secret keeper, the disappear-before-the-end-of-the-battle man knew all her secrets… well most of them.

"One in ten hey?" She glared irately at him. "There where what? Two hundred people in that bank? So what only about twenty people might know who I am… oh how nice." The bitter tones in her voice where far from unnoticed and she saw his expression settle from that of a spoiled brat of a man to a much calmer sedate hero.

"I doubt they made the connection of a Jubaan high school girl being Sailor Moon, even though you reacted with strength and skill beyond a teenagers."

"So you know my school?" Usagi looked away. If he knew her school, then he could know her, and she did not want to see the expression on his face when the disappointment sank in. The silence that followed her question was an answer in itself. She knew without asking or looking that he knew her, or that he would soon. Using her anger as a distraction she defended herself, returning to the argument at hand. It seemed easier. "And of course, what human minds may have mistake a security tape or two would never reveal now would it?" The bitterness was settling in, she was not impressed by this days events, not even close.

She felt him staring at her and met his searching eyes with her angry ones. "You seem smarter today then you ever have before."

She wondered if he was referring to just her times as Sailor Moon. He knew her school, how much else did he know? "Peril and necessity are wonderful incentives." She threw her head back against the wall she sat against, her eyes coming quickly into focus on the roof that had shifted down lower then it should have.

Unable to help herself she looked the room over again. It was amazing that any light had survived the sudden destruction of the building but one or two dangled from the roof flickering with uncertainty. The rest of the room was a shambles. There was a wooden desk with a computer and files in the far corner o the room that looked surreally untouched, all other furniture had been thrown to the side or broken. The door way was blocked by layers of rubble and there where no windows.

With a sigh Usagi took her attention from the mess and lent her head back into the wall once more. Her eyes slipped shut as she tried to ignore her anger for the situation and actually come to grips with it.

"Are you okay?" His voice surprised her and her eyes jump open to see him. He was watching her cautiously, his left wrist held lightly in his right grip, a long cut ran down the length of his face a trickle of blood seeping out from it. He looked warn, the grey dusting across his black clothes adding substantial to the image.

"I'm fine." She brushed the attention aside as quickly as she could, letting her eyes close once more. She had to think of a way out of here.

"Really?" A shuffling noise roused her attention and brought it back to him, her eyes opened to find him crawling carefully over to him. The roof above them demanded that he crawl or do his head serious injuries. She noticed that he wasn't putting weight onto his left wrist and she realized that he may well have been hurt in the whole fiasco. She watched him silently as he crouched before her, and did not respond when he gently raised her hand to his inspection. She cringed at the jolt to her right elbow and he moved his attention to her arm examining more closely, carefully shifting her arm to test it's limits. She gave a start when the elbow bent to far and his concerned eyes jumped to hers.

"I think your arm's broken." He was frowning his hands still on her arm and holding it gently. She would have yanked the arm from his grip if she hadn't realized the frivolity of the action or the pain it would have caused her.

"It'll heal." She wasn't too concerned, the palms bothered her more because she could see the blood and seeing sometimes was far worse then feeling.

"Your very blasé about that."

"Don't sound so concerned." She snapped at him, a little upset because he seemed upset. She never liked to worry anyone. Taking a breath, realizing she had phrased it too harshly she tried again. "Hey. When you get as many broken bones as I do on a weekly basis you have to be blasé about it."

"That wasn't comforting." He raised a brow at her, visible behind the mask and she rolled her eyes at the expression. She could visualize the very look in his eyes right then, she had seen it far to often in other people to have a problem with imagining it.

She met his eyes again, her own free of mocking or disbelief. "It was honest." She told him firmly, feeling drained and weak. She wondered how long her transformation would last, it had never been pushed to it's limit for sciences sake and Youma attacks had never lasted more then an hour at most so she didn't know if it wore away.

"I never realized you where hurt so badly during battles."

She would have responded with something casual if her communicator hadn't begun beeping taking her attention from him. She pulled it from her sub space pocket and flicked it open. Ami as Mercury appeared on the screen looking anxious.

"Are you okay?" The blue haired girl demanded the worry in her eyes and voice taking any sting from the words. "The center of the building just caved in on itself!"

A shock of guild struck Usagi as she truly considered the repercussions of her actions. She forced the question that sprung to her mind out. "Was anyone inside?" she didn't breath as she waited for the genius's response.

"I don't think so. It's Sunday the office workers shouldn't have been there and the rest of the bank's still intact."

"Check." Usagi ordered and shut the communicator. Her pulse was uneven, the very possibility that someone else was trapped, injured, maybe dead bore down on her. Her thoughts went to the police who had pursued her into the depths of the bank. If they had been as close as she thought they had been then it was likely they where dead.

Her stomach clenched her mind spinning. Weight settled onto her shoulders and surprised she looked to find hands resting there. Her eyes traced the hands and moved up the arms attached until she meet Tuxedo Kaman's white mask.

"It'll be fine." He told her soothingly and she nodded her head in earnest unable to fight the strength of his voice or the comfort it was offering at that moment.

"What if I killed someone?" A flash of blood pressed into her mind "Again?" It hurt when she thought about it, when she remembered that she had caused death.

'If you hadn't reacted, he would have killed you, or Rei." He sounded reasonable but she didn't hear the reason behind the one important blaring name.

"You know her name?" She nearly chocked on the question, it was rhetorical there was no need for him to answer. "This is too much." She felt the tears falling down her checks, knew she couldn't stop them because she didn't really want to. There was no chance, none worth considering that he knew one of her best friends names, her school uniform and not her. "I don't want to be here."

"Hey. It's going to be okay. Mercury's going to call you back on that-thing," he paused for a second and she nearly smiled at his frown. "And when she does she'll tell us one way or the other, but you have to remember that this isn't your fault. Accidents happen."

"This isn't just an accident! Gods! People are dead! That man back there-he's dead!"

"That man deserved to die." His voice was steely.

"Who are we to decide? How can any life be taken away justifiably? Without even remorse or regret? We don't know anything about him. What drove him there? Did he need the money? What for? Could he have been helped?"

"Who cares? He was drunk, and he threatened you."

"But they where just threats. There's no way to prove he would ever have followed through."

"And no way to prove he wouldn't have!" He was getting angrier.

Sighing softly she looked away feeling weak and exposed. "Please don't hate me because I can't hate him." She didn't meet his eyes, didn't want him to see that even in a small way she did hate the man. But he was dead, and she couldn't justify any such emotion now.

The man took a deep breath, and shifted his to sit beside her resting his head against the wall. Then softy he added his final point. "He held a gun to your head, Usagi."

"You know my name." She whispered then with regret in her heart she closed her eyes shutting the world off. There had been such a slim chance before that he didn't know who she was, but now not even a breath of possibility existed and it crushed her inside more then anything else had.

She wanted to cry the emotions out, release her restraint and succumb to everything that told her nothing would be the same again and maybe nothing would be good again. Her communicator beeped and her attention shifted to it.

"Moon here." She felt despondent as she stared at the frantic image of Mercury.

"Where are you?" The girl sounded angry and scared, a mixture and strength of emotions that Ami rarely displayed.

Usagi took a breath and let her eyes wander the room again. The giving her friend a bemused smile offered her best guess. "Beneath what's left of the center of the bank?"

The words didn't seem to make Ami any less emotional. "Who's with you?"

"Tuxedo Kamen." She didn't look to him, refused to look at him. In some way not looking at him made it easier to believe he wasn't there and if he wasn't there then maybe he didn't know who she was. It was a vicious and pointless lie that she refused to let go until she had to.

Ami looked panicked still. Usagi waited for the damning words she had been anticipating. "Then besides you and Tuxedo Kamen there's no one else near the collapse."

"No one else alive? Or no one else?"

"No one else period. Bodies haven't been there long enough to have dropped much in temperature and besides you two there's nothing registering on my scans."

"Okay. Get the tapes and get out. Meet up with the others and call me back." Usagi sighed her frustrations. Her eyes drifted through the enclosed room once more heart sinking. "I'm not going anywhere."


	3. Three

EVERYONE: I have a new web address and the page is finaly complete, please feel free to visit it. I can't get the address to show up here, so check it out in my profile!

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**Incident's Do Happen**

by Kimra

Part 3

The lights where out. They had gone out ten minutes before. She had to guess the police or emergency people or who ever was in charge of those sort of things had finally gotten to the power grid. It was as comforting as it was disturbing.

It was comforting because the loose wires that had protruded through bits and pieces of the broken room had carried with them the threat of electrocution. It was disturbing because they where now in complete darkness.

Usagi shivered lightly as thoughts of monsters hidden in the shadows came to mind. She never had been a fan of the dark, it concealed too much.

"Can't even play eye-spy now." She muttered to herself, and maybe to her companion to try and lift the silence that had lingered much longer then the darkness had. Over an hour of sitting around and conversation had continued to dwindle down to nothing. He had made a few brave attempts at conversation, just as she had, but in the end neither of them felt like talking.

He gave a little chuckle at her words however. "Considering the circumstances, even if the lights where on it would have been a waste of time."

"How so?" She breathed too tired to contemplate not conversing and too bored and agitated to not try and distract herself as best can be.

"I spy concrete." He muttered and she had to agree with his cynicism. There was absolutely nothing in the room before the lights where off. It would have been just an exercise in wasting time… an exercise she was quite willing to be a part of at that moment.

"Who do you think will find us first? The Senshi or the Police?"

He let out a loud breath. "I don't really care, as long as someone gets to us before my sanity crumbles."

"I'm that fun to be around ha?" She asked lightly, a little miffed even though she didn't want to be there any longer then she had to either.

"Always." He drawled.

She scowled at his tone. "You know, you're a bit of a jerk. I'm in a crisis and your not being nice to me." Her scowl deepened. "Hero's are meant to be nice!"

"I'm not really cut out for the whole hero thing." He replied plainly.

"But your Tuxedo Kamen!" She protested viciously, unable to believe that the dashing hero was anything but self assured and happy with his line of work.

"Yeah. And your Sailor Moon." He retorted. "Do you feel like a hero?"

"I never really thought…" She paused only a second before continuing bravely. "It just seems everyone else can do it easily, like it's natural for them."

"I doubt anyone can ever be entirely at ease jumping around as a superhero." Was his rational reply.

"I don't know," she began doubtfully "you should see the girls. Their first time fighting Youmas?" She shook her head with the admiration she always felt for her friends. "It was natural for them, they just knew how to do it, where to hit when to fall back. I was always, cry, fall over my own feet, get in everyone's way." She rattled off the list with self annoyance.

"It's part of your charm." He seemed amused.

"Charm? I'd be leaning closer to an idiosyncrasy." She snapped.

"What ever it is, it's how you respond. There's nothing wrong with that." He was trying too sooth her and she appreciated it, but appreciation and belief where not the same thing.

"Except when I put lives on the line." She pointed out tartly.

"When lives are on the line you do what is necessary." He sounded sure.

"Yeah right." She grumbled, not believing him in the slightest.

"I think your afraid." He stated simply.

"Of killing someone? Yes." The conversation was aggravating her.

"Of letting yourself be Sailor Moon." He continued, his voice calm. "When it's just you you never reach your potential. But the moment a life is threatened it's like your another person. You suddenly wont budge, you wont cry and you'll do what ever it takes to protect that life because you know no one else can. Those moment's your Sailor Moon."

"Oh yeah, oh Sage One? What am I every other time? What am I when I'm running away, when my friends are forced into danger because of my stupidity?"

"Your friends can look after themselves. And what you are, is a young girl trying to maintain her identity, trying not to surrender to the trawl of her power."

She tried to think up a quick response, but it took a moment and when she said it there wasn't the bite she had intended in her voice. "Is this psychoanalyze Moon day?"

"You shouldn't look down on yourself so much. You're a great person, you do great things." He sounded certain like he believed in her.

"If I wasn't Sailor Moon, I'd be no-one." She replied softly, feeling empty.

And he was just as certain as before when he replied. "You'd always be someone."

"You sound sure." She wanted to believe him, but no matter what he said he was a hero and he would say anything to make the people around him feel better.

"I doubt anyone who knows you would consider you anything but an extraordinary person." And it sounded like a friend, like a statement made by someone who knew it was true and refused to be doubted and she couldn't bring herself to argue this once and instead let the conversation fall into a thoughtful silence.

*****

Her communicator barely beeped once before she had opened and answer it.

"How's it going?" She asked them casually, as if she hadn't had a building try and fall on her head, as if she wasn't locked in a dark room slowly developing claustrophobia.

"Well, the good news is we got the tapes." Mina in the guise of Venus declared with enthusiasm.

"The bad news?" Usagi asked unsure if she wanted to hear it but knowing it had to be heard.

"Your stuck under a buildings worth of rubble with a hunk?" Mina questioned a little uncertainly.

"Yeah! How is that bad news Moon?" Makoto called from somewhere behind Mina.

"Maybe it's the stuck under a buildings worth of rubble bit!" Rei snapped also from somewhere behind Mina. Usagi ignored the argument that started to form between the two.

"So how's the hunk?" Mina sounded very curious as her eyes flicked about Usagi looking for traces of him. She frowned. "And why is it so dark?"

"I told you that power to the building was cut off Venus." Was Ami's small intrusion and then Mina's expression became mischief.

"Oh… so your stuck in a dark room with the man of your dreams?" She had a wicked smile on her lips. "You sure you want rescuing?"

Usagi fought down ever need to blush she could, aware that he was listening to every word they said. Forcing herself to treat the words like an every day Minako question Usagi ignored and moved on.

"How are you planning to rescue me?" She asked lightly.

Mina looked surprised by the question then frowned. "Oh we hadn't gotten to that."

"You've had over an hour!" Usagi was a little surprised they hadn't done anything faster.

"Well we had to get to the temple, and A-err, Mercury took her time getting here."

"I had to do some scan's of the building before we could make a plan." Ami interrupted sounding as close to annoyed as she ever became.

"And then Luna made us swear we wouldn't try anything stupid until she got here. I don't know why were allowed to try something stupid once she's here but-" Minako shrugged "-that's what she said."

"So. No plan?" Usagi repeated, just to make sure she hadn't misheard the only important part.

"We're working on it, but it's going to be a little difficult." Rei interrupted, her face no appearing on the screen, and Usagi had to guess only Mina had bothered to transform for the communication and none of them would have bothered if they hadn't know Tuxedo Kamen was with her.

"Call me if you think of anything." Usagi stated calmly, and a little annoyed closed the communicator. "You would think they could work a little faster." She muttered to her silent companion.

"I'm sure there going as fast as they can. After all it's not an easy task getting someone out of this kind of a mess. Maybe it will be better to leave it to the rescue workers."

"Oh? And I explain why I'm in here how?"

"I'm sure your friends will think of a way out of here. In the mean time you should relax."

She did as he said only because there was nothing else to do. Stress would not help and she was almost afraid of what thumping the wall and whining would do to the structural integrity of their self designated prison.

Flexing her hands she found something good and laughed. "My hands have healed." She told him, rather then wait for him to ask what she found amusing.

He didn't laugh, but she could tell he was amused when he replied. "So has my wrist." But he let a little concern into his voice when he continued. "How's your arm?"

"I recon it's still broken." She replied nonchalant.

"Does it hurt?"

"Is there a part of me that doesn't?" It had been a stupid question and she hoped he hadn't expected a better answer.

"You should lie down." He sounded concerned still.

"I should think before I do things to. Guess we don't always do what we should." She snapped not liking the babying attitude he was directing at her.

"That's your stubborn way of telling me your not going to lie down just because I suggested it, isn't it? He drawled.

She gave a little smile, unable to remain angry but continued with as much false bite in her voice as she could manage. "Your pretty fast Tux Boy."

There was amusement in his voice. "Tux Boy?"

"You get stuck in a room with me for this long there's no way you don't get a nick name by the end of it. Do you know how hard it is to say 'Tuxedo Kamen' every time you walk by anyway? You couldn't have picked a shorter name?"

"Oh and Sailor Moon is so concise." She could imagine him rolling his eyes as he said it and privately agreed.

"Well, okay… you have a point." She smiled impishly. "But I'm still calling you Tux Boy."

The was a pause she felt before he asked in a very calm unobtrusive voice. "Can I call you Usagi?"

She let her breath out slowly again uncertain of the man sitting next to her. "I don't know." She admitted softly. "If I let you call me Usagi, I'd want to know your name."

"I guess it's Moony then." He replied lightly.

She frowned in spite of herself. "That's a terrible nick name."

"I'm not in the habit of given out nick names." He replied amused.

"What? Never?" She was shocked, it seemed so unnatural.

"Not ones that where particularly liked." And she felt him smirk in the darkness, with a joke she didn't get.

She ignored it and decided to help him along the path of better nick names. "Well you have to make it affectionate, sweet, hmm… and personal as well. If it's not personal it's not as fun."

"You think Tux Boy is affectionate and sweet?" Incredulity was obvious in his voice.

"Well okay, you can overlook those two so long as its personal and funny." She gave a nod into the darkness, to fortify her words, realized he didn't see it and rolled her eyes at herself.

"I'll remember you said that." His voice was a little amused and a little menacing and all at once she wanted to know why it sounded like such a dangerous promise.

"Uh… sure." She replied a little uncertain and defiantly off balance.


	4. Four

Incident's Happen

By Kimra

Part Four

o o

dbooooooodb

o o

"How long's it been now?" He asked conversationally and she glanced down at the illuminated clock on her communicator.

"Too long." She groaned, still registering that it had been nearly eight hours since it had begun. She grit her teeth and mentally ordered her friends to make her excuses to her family. It was getting close to 8pm and she didn't think they where any closer to being out at that moment then they had at any other point in the day.

"What's the time?" He tried again, probing a little harder.

"Seven forty-eight, pm." She almost felt his grimace.

"Well I guess that cancels out my plans for the night."

"Oh?" She perked, curious and bored to death. "What where you going to do?"

"I was going to go to a concert with a friend."

"Oh?" She asked a little curious but she was getting too tired to really probe for information and his silence indicated he wasn't going to volunteer any.

Usagi stretched from her seated position, arm's raising high above her head as she arched her back trying to click all the muscles back into place.

"How's it going?" He asked considerately, but his voice made her jump. She had been under the impression that he was asleep or just not in the room any more. This darkness was not so friendly as she would like it to be, not that darkness was usually friendly, but she lived in hope.

"I'm exhausted. I think I have to de-transform." She told him plainly, it wasn't exactly a big deal after all, he knew who she was, and she had never once felt unsafe in his presence. After all, considering her track record if he'd wanted to hurt her he could have just left her alone… that would have gotten her killed some time ago.

"It's okay, no one's getting in here without one of us noticing." He replied dryly.

"Ya think?" she replied tartly. Something about being stuck in a room with the lights off with a guy who continued to swap between infuriating to charming was getting on her nerves. Funny that.

"Hey, no need to bite my head off." He defended quickly. "I was just telling you."

"You know-" She snapped, forgetting to be tired "-you remind me of someone I know." Then added, just so there was no confusion. "And that's not entirely a good thing." It was just perfect, she was stuck in a room with her hero who was doing his darn best to reminder her of her daily arguments. She folded her arms tightly across her chest in annoyance, then grimaced slightly at the pain that moved through her. None the less a grin touched on her lips.

"What?" He asked, as if he could see her sudden smile and she was too pleased to remember being annoyed at him.

"My arm's not broken any more." She unfolded her arms slowly then gently shook the sore one a little. "But it still pulls."

"Congratulations." He replied stonily.

"How's your wrist?" She turned to him now, in better spirits then she had been and even though she couldn't see him she could sense that he was withdrawing. She reached out carefully, aware of the million embarrassing situations that would arise if she grabbed at random in his direction and managed to carefully latch onto his arm.

"It's fine."

"You sure?" She probed running her hand down his arm to his wrist. She heard his intake of breath, not sure if it was pain but gentling her touch as she checked for injury.

"You shouldn't do that." He told her tightly and although she was surprised by the statement she frowned up at him trying to understand what he meant. "Besides," he sneered making her frown tighten into displeasure "it's the wrong wrist."

Her lips came into a deadly pout as he chuckled at her and she let a little huff escape her in annoyance. "I'm just trying to help." She pointed out peeved with his behavior.

"Go back to your corner Odango."

She kept pouting. "Maybe I don't want to." She challenged lightly, because god's she was bored.

"Maybe you should do it anyway." He tried again and with a grin she got a little closer.

"Am I scaring you Tuxedo Kamen?"

"Yeah." He replied, humor in his voice "If I'm not careful you'll fall and take the rest of the building down with you." He left a pause for the insult to settle in. "Now go back to your corner."

A little peeved by the insult and the fact that he wouldn't even dignify her with a distraction she settled for rebellion and sat herself down almost directly beside him.

Soon though she fell asleep, her body surrendering to the emotional exhaustion of the day.

o o

dbooooooodb

o o

Something was wrong in her dreams, something she couldn't put her finger on. Tuxedo Kamen was singing at her, always singing and rather off key. He was singing happy birthday, or something like that but he kept getting her name wrong. Every time, one after another, he called her Rei, he called her Ami, then Usagi, but that hadn't been right. He followed with different names, ones she knew, ones she thought he might have been making up. He called her nick names, things that made her blush things that infuriated her but not her name, she kept shouting and shouting but he couldn't get it right.

"Wake up." He told her softly and she ignored him, for a moment wishing he was singing again because anything was better then being awake. Awake meant school six times out of seven, and she never liked that.

"Go 'way." She mumbled at him, waved a hand at get rid of him and hit flesh.

"Ouch!" Was snapped and she managed a little snicker at the figure in her dreams event though he seemed too far away to hit it had been his voice.

"Wake up!" The voice snapped and with shock she realized there was someone beside her, right beside her ear.

She flung herself away only to realize she was lying down. Her head collided with something solid. She swore, tried to clutch her head and fell back hard against the marble floor. She swore again but didn't move, not trusting that she'd come out of the room alive if she did.

"What the hell?" She demanded of the darkness around her. She felt drained, tired beyond any definition she knew of the word.

"You head butted me!" A male voice snapped, sounding for all the world like he was going to kill her.

She blinked then realized it was Tuxedo Kamen's voice and that she was still stuck under the rubble of a collapsed bank building. For an obscure reason that was comforting.

"Erg." She grunted the memory of her dream intruding her thoughts. "Never sing to me." She grumbled the agitation from that dream still in her body.

"What?" He demanded, sounding unimpressed and she reasoned that if his head was hurting as much as her own he had every right to sound narky.

"Don't worry about it." She replied tightly, too tired to care what was happening and not in the mood to pick a fight. "Why'd you wake me?" She grumbled wondering if she really wanted to be asleep considering the dream, it had been really bizarre.

"You said you needed to detransform and fell asleep without doing it. I thought it was okay but you seemed to be getting feverish. So I woke you up."

Tired she acknowledged that he was right, her body felt like it was loosing energy fast. It wasn't a problem normally but the many hours of sitting in this room transformed was straining her recourses.

"Good point." She whispered as she dragged herself to sit up. He wasn't far from her, she could feel his presence near her own and relaxed knowing he wouldn't be far. In her civilian form she would feel weaker, more intimidated by the situation which so far she had avoided, but she had to do this, because otherwise she wouldn't have the energy to get out of there when the girls finally got a plan going. She reached up for her broach, felt it tight in her grip and pushed the magic back into it where it belonged. She felt power leaving her body, sliding past her and into oblivion, she felt it go and let it happen like she did every time she released her hold on Sailor Moon.

She knew he could see it, even if her eyes where closed as the power overwhelmed her. She knew he could see everything as the power flooded the room and settled itself back into her locket but she didn't care. Tuxedo Kamen just wouldn't hold it against her, besides maybe he had the same problem when he transformed.

A thought occurred to her. "What about you?" She asked when the energy had calmed and she felt like herself, plain old Usagi.

"I changed back while you where asleep." He replied, his voice tight and she felt a little betrayed.

"Good for you." She told him and her attention began to slide away. She really was tired but now without the Sailor Moon magic around her she felt like the sleep would actually come. It wasn't until her eyes where closing and her dream was returning that something occurred to her, something that had escaped her. In her dream, in her mind Tuxedo Kamen had called her everything, everything except…. "Odango."

"What?" The man asked his voice sounding confused and she stared at where she knew he was her heart struck with an idea she couldn't shake away.

"You called me Odango." She breathed the betrayal stronger now, the loss to acute it nearly hurt, because she knew now, what she hadn't understood before. "Nobody call's me Odango but Mamoru."


End file.
